A Guiding Light
by TheDogzLife
Summary: (Sequel to Afraid of the Dark). Weeks after the chaos ends, something strange is happening to the people of Nippon. The hate is rising, and Amaterasu must find a way to guide everyone back to the light before there is nobody left on her side at all.
1. One Door Closes

**Well then. Even though I decided I wasn't going to make a sequel I made one anyways. Reason? The plot seemed legit xD**

**Now, if you haven't read Afraid of the Dark, I suggest you read that before reading this... otherwise some of the characters' relations/wellbeing might make no sense.**

**Chances are this story won't be as long as AotD was, but hey. At least there's no psychopathic killers in this one...?**

**To my current knowledge there will be at least one OC in this, but he's gonna appear later. Other than that it's all canon characters minus a few random demons.**

**And the best part? Waka isn't going to have a hat AT ALL in this story! 8D**

**LET'S-A GO!**

* * *

"Hey Ammy, Kushi's heading out to Agata to get some more water for sake and—oh, okay then."

Issun halted in front of the goddess as soon as he realised that, as usual, she was asleep.

"Pff. Furball, how on earth do you sleep so much?" Issun tutted, rolling his eyes and jumping onto her head. "Get up, lazybones!"

Letting out an irritated grumble, the wolf lifted her head, trying to glance up at him.

"Sheesh. Ammy, you're so lazy when we're not on some great adventure," he sighed. "We gotta find another mission to go on or something. That'll wake you up."

Amaterasu blinked, staring at him for a moment. Then she let out a loud yawn and rested her head back on her paws once more.

Issun gave an exasperated sigh, flopping over backwards onto her fur dramatically. "Geez. This is what I have to deal with every day. Who'd have thought a god could be so lazy?"

He glanced up at the sun shining in the sky, holding up one hand to shield his eyes from the light. Maybe he should just be glad that they actually had the chance to relax for a while.

It was only a few weeks ago that they'd been dragged back down to the mortal plain for Tero's harebrained plan. In the process they'd lost Chibi and Kai, and come terrifyingly close to losing the sun goddess as well… but they'd pulled through, Tero had been killed, and peace was restored once more. Sort of.

There were still demons lurking around in places and he couldn't work out why. Most of them had vanished when they destroyed the Akukaen Crystal, a legendary stone that Tero had used to bring them back to life in the first place. Perhaps these demons hadn't been created by the crystal. They were just sort of… there. Still, at least there was something to do now. Nippon could be quite boring when there weren't any demons to fight, although just thinking that made Issun feel selfish.

"C'mon, Ammy, we should really go help Kushi. You know there are still demons around and knowing her she'll be too stubborn to go and wake Susano to protect her. Besides, if you help her put the water in the barrel again she might give you some rice or somethin' when we get ba—whoa!"

Immediately the wolf jumped up, tail wagging. Issun was thrown into the air but luckily he managed to land back on her head again and sat up, smiling.

"Hah. Typical. You'll do anything for food, furball."

* * *

Agata Forest looked in a sorry state when they got there. The fire had ravaged most of the trees and shrubs, but they were steadily starting to grow back and regain their leaves. Still, there was no denying that the dappled sunlight on the surface of the lake looked beautiful.

"Holy smokes!" Issun exclaimed. "Wow, for a babe, Kushi sure has got some muscle to manage to carry that barrel all the way out here so fast. Practice, I guess." He glanced up towards Hitoshio spring where he could just see the barrel disappearing over the rise.

Amaterasu barked, hopping over to the far bank from the island in the lake they had been standing on, and strode along the path leading up to the spring.

"Amaterasu, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you! I-I mean… Amaterasu, mother to us all!"

"Huh?" Issun glanced around as he heard the voice from somewhere above. The wolf halted and did the same.

Suddenly there was a flash of orange light as a burning shape flashed past them. Sparks flew through the air and a nearby tree caught on fire.

"Ah! What the heck!" Issun cried.

"Oh, goodness! Um, um, I got this, I got this…"

Issun was left watching in moderate disbelief as he finally recognised the phoenix. Moegami made an abrupt stop the moment he noticed the flaming tree and hurried over, trying to put out the fire with his wings – which wasn't working since they were on fire as well.

Amaterasu just rolled her eyes, drawing a line of water from the lake and putting out the tree.

Moegami was left open-mouthed, nearly dropping his pipe. Then he blinked hurried over to land on a rock nearby, which had bare ground surrounding it so that he wouldn't set anything else on fire. "Um… my apologies, Okami Amaterasu."

"What brings you here, Moe?" Issun spoke up, hopping around on the wolf's head as per usual. "No trouble on the Celestial Plain, is there?"

"No, no, actually I just came to see if you were any closer to defeating the demons that were plaguing the lands," Moegami told them.

"Well, we defeated the guy responsible for them," the poncle shrugged. "There's hardly any left now. They could still do with being cleared out though."

"Ah, right," Moegami nodded hurriedly. "Well, um… take your time; we're continuing to look after the Celestial Plain in your absence, Okami Amaterasu."

There was another bright flash as the bird spread his wings and took off into the air. Another tree caught on fire although this time the phoenix didn't appear to notice. Ammy just shrugged and drew another waterspout.

"Huh. Those gods sure are nervous around you, Ammy," Issun muttered. _I suppose Ammy is the most powerful god of them all, they have a lot of respect for her._ "Anyways, let's go help Kushi."

Casting one final glance around as if to check that Moegami hadn't set anything else on fire, Amaterasu gave a bark and raced away along the path.

* * *

"Thank you, Snowy! Err… I mean, thank you, Amaterasu," Kushi smiled as she placed the lid on the massive barrel so that none of the spring water would fall out. "Now I just have to work out how to get this back to Kamiki…"

"Hmm, let's see…" Issun muttered casually, hopping over to the barrel and giving it a shove. It didn't budge.

"Thanks for your help, Issun, but I don't think that's going to work," the sake brewer laughed. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've managed to get this to Kamiki on my own before."

"Well, don't go pulling a muscle, sweetie!" Issun tutted. "We'll go back and see if Susano is awake yet, I'm sure he can lend a hand if he'll get off his lazy ass for once."

"He's not so bad," Kushi shrugged. "Oh, have you seen Kuni recently? I think he was heading out to the city today to go and meet up with a friend, I don't know if he's left already."

"Okay, we'll keep a look out," Issun told her. "C'mon, Ammy, let's hurry and find Susano before poor Kushi puts her back out or somethin'"

"Issun, I'll be fine, really."

Ignoring Kushi's protest, the wolf turned and raced back away down the grassy slope, flowers appearing behind her as she ran.

Issun held on tightly to her fur as they sped between the trees; it would be just like Ammy to not notice if he fell off, especially in a place with so much green.

"I wonder if Susano's even up yet," Issun mused, using his free hand to pull his hat tighter onto his head so it wouldn't get blown away. "If he isn't… eh, we'll just carry him out here. Same old, same ol—"

He broke off as Amaterasu suddenly came to an abrupt halt and he was thrown forward, getting a face full of fur.

"Pah!" he coughed, sitting up. "Ammy, warn me next time you're gonna stop like that."

Giving an apologetic grumble, the wolf glanced around, ears twitching, as if she were listening for something.

"What's up, furball?" Issun asked, straining to hear whatever she was listening for.

Then at last he heard a faint sound carried along the breeze.

"Oh great," he sighed, recognising the sound of the flute immediately. Ammy gave a bark, her tail wagging.

A second later the music stopped, and there was a flash of light just ahead of them.

"Bah. What are you doing here, prophet?" Issun tutted, rolling his eyes.

"I see you are just as happy to see me as always, my little bouncing friend," Waka teased, silver sparks still fluttering in the air around him as they slowly faded.

"Oh, trust me," Issun snorted. "I couldn't think of anyone I'd be less happy to see, and that's saying something."

"Well, ma chérie, it seems your bug friend is in his usual mood today."

"Shut up, prophet!" the poncle snapped. "And don't call me bug or else I'll start calling you _maiden_!"

"Excusez-moi!?" Waka actually looked somewhat defiant for once.

"Well, it's not _my_ fault you look like a girl with hair that long," Issun laughed. He'd finally found a way to irritate Waka and that, in his mind, was something to be proud of. The prophet had lost his hat a few weeks back when they'd been in an avalanche at Ezofuji, and he hadn't yet bothered to find a new way of hiding the waist-length golden hair that trailed down his back.

"And it's not my fault that you're an insect," Waka shrugged, seemingly brushing off the comment. He carried on before Issun could reply, leaving the poncle fuming in silence. "Anyway, you asked why I was here; I was looking for you two."

"What, come to tell us of some new magical prophecy or something?" Issun rolled his eyes.

"Ma chérie, it's been weeks since we defeated Tero," Waka continued, ignoring Issun. "We should head back to the Celestial Plain soon."

Amaterasu's ears twitched as she listened to what he was saying. Then she glanced away at the grass, tail drooping.

"Already?" Issun exclaimed. "Well, what if Ammy doesn't _want_ to go back to the plain yet. You wanna stay here with me, don't ya, furball?"

The wolf looked up at him sadly. Issun could easily tell what she was thinking.

She didn't want to leave him again, but she knew she had to go back to the Celestial Plain…

Waka let out a long sigh. "Désolé, Issun, but you know Amaterasu needs to be on the Celestial Plain or it could fall into ruin again."

"Bah. Fine," the poncle muttered. "When are you leaving?"

"As soon as possible," Waka shrugged. "I just want to check on Sei'an first and then we can go."

"You sure don't waste any time, do ya," Issun grumbled. He didn't want Ammy to leave already…

"Amaterasu, you know where the ark is. I'll meet you at Ezofuji. That's plenty of time to say your goodbyes to everyone, methinks."

And with that, the prophet vanished.

"Darn Waka," Issun huffed. "You don't really wanna leave, do ya, Ammy?"

The goddess hung her head, letting out a quiet whine.

"Eh. It's okay, furball," Issun sighed, patting her head. He knew that she didn't want to leave everybody again but she didn't want to leave the Celestial Plain at risk by staying away for too long either… "We should probably head over to Kamui then. Let's drop in at Kamiki on the way there and say bye to everyone."

* * *

_So… tired…_

Kuni stopped running to catch his breath, and he rested his hands on his knees, panting. He hadn't realised quite how long it would take to walk to Sei'an from Shinshu and so far he'd made it to the coast. He was supposed to be meeting Kagu near the city at least an hour ago. _I hope she doesn't mind that I'm late…_

After resting for a few seconds, he continued racing along the coast, weaving between trees as he tried to find the fastest route. Nearly there now.

After spending months living rough, Kuni had gone back to live with his adoptive parents, Susano and Kushi. Kagu had been staying in Yakushi Village for a while as she recovered from a wound she'd got in the fight to try and save Mutt, but Kuni had barely seen her at all since she went home to Sei'an City. Since Kagu was a miko, she couldn't leave the city and journey across Nippon to see him, so he'd been travelling to Sei'an to meet up with her occasionally.

Once the pier came into view, he saw Kagu sitting at the bottom of the ramp leading up to it. She'd probably been there for a while…

"Kagu!" he shouted.

The miko glanced up. "Kuni! You were supposed to be here an hour ago!"

"Yeah…" Kuni said sheepishly as he stopped next to her, out of breath. "Sorry… I didn't know it'd take so long to get here. Not to mention there are a lot of demons around still so I was being careful to stay away from them and—"

"I've been waiting out here for an _hour_!" Kagu snapped. "I skipped out on my training to meet you, and you don't even bother to show up until an hour later!"

Kuni blinked in surprise, taking a step back. "I-I said I was sorry… better late than never…?"

"Saying sorry can't get back the hour of time you've made me waste," Kagu huffed, turning away pointedly. "If you can't be bothered to show up on time then I don't see why you bothered to come at all."

"Kagu…"

"Just leave me alone!" she shouted, not even looking at him before running off back to the city.

Kuni was left in a stunned silence. "I said sorry…"

But she was too far away to hear him.

Kuni shook his head quickly. He'd had the feeling Kagu might be slightly mad at him but he hadn't expected this. What was up with her today?

_She's just mad because I was late, _he told himself. _I'll wait a bit and go apologise to her later. I'm sure she'll forgive me then._


	2. Accused

**Well looks like this story is definitely gonna be shorter than AotD orz**

**Welcome to the land of discrimination. All will make sense later. Probably.**

**Also look who else is returning in this story hmm. We'll probs be seeing some Oina later too.**

* * *

Ah, Nippon. This place was so nice when everything was normal. Just like the good old days. Not to mention that the coastline was beautiful at this time of day, an orange tinge appearing in the sky as the sun gradually started to set and the colour reflecting off the water.

Kaguya took a deep breath of the ocean air as she walked along the shore. Even though it wasn't that long since she'd last been here, the place seemed different. Better. Now that Nippon wasn't in any kind of peril, the sound of the waves lapping at the sand was soothing, and the sun was shining warmly once more.

Well, she couldn't stand around here and watch the sea all day. In a few hours the day would be over, and she still hadn't made it to the city.

She adjusted the bag that was slung over one shoulder, being careful not to damage any of the contents inside. Having nowhere else to go, Kaguya had been staying with her adoptive grandfather, Mr. Bamboo. He'd been more than happy to have her back after she'd left on her journey last year. Now she had offered to deliver some of his bamboo ware to the city so that he wouldn't have to make the long journey – he was getting old, after all.

It wasn't long before she noticed someone sitting alone by the shore. A young boy with black hair, who she knew looked familiar somehow…

"Hey… you're… Kuni, right?" she spoke up as she walked past.

The boy glanced around, somewhat surprised. He clearly hadn't noticed her. "Oh, yeah. Hi… erm…" he trailed off. "I-I'm sorry, I forgot your name…"

"Kaguya," she smiled. "What brings you out here? I thought you lived in Kamiki now?"

"I do," Kuni shrugged. "I came out here to see Kagu but… well, I was late, and she kinda got mad at me…"

"That sounds… pretty normal, actually," Kaguya admitted.

"Maybe, but… she seemed even more mad than usual," Kuni sighed. "I apologised but she just told me to leave her alone and stormed off."

"Oh, I see. Now I suppose you're waiting around here to see if she's calmed down in a while, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Kaguya smiled, amused. "Well, I'll leave you to it. I need to get to—"

She broke off, glancing in the direction of the city.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Kuni asked, looking around, confused.

"Can't you hear that?"

The boy was silent for a moment, listening. "Voices? And they don't sound friendly."

"I wonder what's going on," Kaguya mused.

"I'll go check it out," Kuni decided, jumping up.

"No, no, it's okay. I can see from here."

"Oh yeah," Kuni realised. "You can do that seeing-everything thing, right?"

"Yes, but I can't do it if you keep talking to me."

"Oh, sorry."

* * *

Issun couldn't help but noticed how unhappy Ammy looked as they headed along the path towards Laochi Lake. She wasn't in her usual cheerful running gait, instead simply padding along dejectedly, her tail drooping.

To be honest, Issun didn't feel any better. He didn't want Ammy to leave again. Heck, the last time he'd left her alone she'd nearly been killed by a powerful demon.

Though, if he had been with her, he wouldn't have been able to do his job as a Celestial Envoy. Without everyone praying for her to win the fight, she might have actually died…

_Ah, heck. I don't wanna think about this._ He shook his head, trying to push the thoughts from his head. He couldn't worry about Ammy now. She was the sun goddess; she was one of the most powerful being in existence. She'd be fine. On the Celestial Plain…

Hurriedly Issun wiped his eyes.

The wolf tried to glance up at him, letting out a quiet whimper.

"What? I-I wasn't crying! Don't be crazy, furball!" he laughed half-heartedly, swallowing hard as he got a lump in his throat. "I just… just… let's keep going, okay?"

Letting out a quiet sigh, Amaterasu nodded.

A moment later they reached the gate to Laochi Lake – it was permanently shut due to the rusted hinges, but there was a large gap in the wall at the side that just about anyone could get through. As soon as they passed through the gap, Issun could clearly see the giant ark hovering above the water. The ice had melted completely since they'd last been here but that wouldn't change the fact that it would be difficult to get onto the giant boat.

The wolf glanced around, letting out a confused grumble.

Issun half-expected there to be the irritating sound of a flute on the breeze, but everything here was silent.

"Doesn't look like there's any way for us – I mean, you… to get on that freaky boat," Issun shrugged. "That prophet's the only one who can open the door."

Amaterasu continued looking around. Then she gave a loud bark.

No reply. No flash of light.

"Bah. Typical, the half-baked prophet is late." Issun grumbled. "Ah well, I'm not complaining. Let's wait around here for a while and see if he shows up. If he's not here in fifteen minutes we go back to Wep'keer, ok?"

Ammy lifted her head to look up at him and gave a half-bark in agreement.

If Waka was going to be late then there was no point waiting around here for ages; they might as well go and find something else to do. What if this was the last time Issun ever saw Ammy? He didn't want her to leave again. Not yet.

* * *

Waka hesitated outside the entrance to the city. At the moment the area was quiet, the only sounds coming from the bustling city nearby and the sea behind him.

He'd been meaning to check up on Sei'an and make sure everyone was okay, but now he was considering whether he actually needed to go into the city or not. The last time he'd been here was when the place was attacked by demons, and even then he hadn't actually gone into the city. As a matter of fact, he'd been trying to avoid people as much as possible for the past few weeks…

And besides, he didn't really fancy another episode of Abe trying to hug him.

Perhaps he could just teleport up to the cliffs surrounding the city again. There was a good view of the area from there.

"Demon!"

_Quoi? Where—_

He glanced around and jumped aside just in time as there was a flash of silver, a blade slicing through the air just inches from his arm.

"Excusez-moi, what do you think you are doing?"

He stepped back slightly. His attacker looked like one of the city's guards, judging by the outfit they were wearing. But if this guy was one of the guards, why were they attacking him…?

"I'm protecting the city from intruders. That includes filthy demons like you!"

"Demons?" Waka blinked. "I'm not—"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence as the guard swung the blade at him again. Quick as a flash, Waka drew his katana, blocking the attack and forcing the weapon away.

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not a demon, but that doesn't mean I'll just stand here and let someone attack me."

This guy may have been one of the city's guards, but that didn't make him brilliant at fighting. After having to face the experienced swordsmanship of Tero, this man was practically a novice.

However, Waka didn't particularly want to get into a fight…

"Don't think I'm stupid enough to fool for your lies!" the guard snapped. "You're not human!"

For a moment Waka froze. _He doesn't know that. He just for some reason thinks I'm a demon… mon dieu, what is wrong with this guy? _"I'm not a demon and I'm not trying to harm anyone in the city. I suggest you just go back to your job and try getting some more sleep in future, it might help you think clearer."

"Silence, demon!"

"For the last time, I'm not a demon!"

The guard tried to attack him again. Frustration starting to get the better of him, Waka lashed out, metal clashing. His defence was so fierce that the guard's weapon went flying out of his hand and embedded itself in the ground nearby.

The second the blades clashed, Waka felt a twinge in his arm. _Ow… I thought that was healed by now…_

"Stop right there!"

Knowing that the guard was now unarmed, Waka glanced around to see where the voice had come from. Three more guards were racing up the path towards them.

_Finally. It's about time someone came here to bring this guy back to reality…_

"What's going on here?" the lead guard asked, glancing from the apparently mental guard to Waka.

"You need to employ better workmen," the prophet muttered. "This guy seems to think I'm a—"

"You two, apprehend this man. Or whatever he is."

"Quoi!?"

Before Waka even had a chance to react, the two remaining guards grabbed his arms. He tried to break out of their grasp but it seemed that these guards were at least used to catching their prisoners…

"Laissez-moi passer! I haven't done anything!" he cried, though as he struggled to escape he only ended up getting an aching pain shooting up his arm. _Ack… this is the injury I got in Kamui…I guess my arm hadn't healed as well as I thought it had…_

"You've attacked one of our guards and are suspected of being a demon," the guard told him simply. "We can't have any of your type around here. You're a threat to the city."

"For your information, he was the one who attacked _me_," Waka persisted. "And I'm getting fed up of telling you people that I am _not_ a demon!"

"You talk too much," the guard muttered. "Silence him."

_Huh? _"I don't understand. What the heck is going on here?" _Why are the guards so insistent in believing that I'm a demon…?_

"That is none of your concern."

Waka didn't have a chance to say anything, as suddenly something hit him in the back of the head and everything went black.


	3. Communication

**Weeellll this story is progressing quickly. With short chapters. Hnnghh...**

**Still, it seems Kagu isn't the only one with anger issues hmmmm**

**Also, Sakuya is apparently Nippon's telephone.**

**Nyehhhh back in the 1000s. We didn't use telephones. We used tree people. There were no answer machines but at least it was a damn lot harder to cut the phone lines.**

* * *

Kuni waited patiently as Kaguya used her powers to see what was going on. Or at least, he assumed she was. She was standing with her eyes closed and for a moment he wondered if she'd fallen asleep. He was just about to say something when suddenly she gasped.

"What? What's wrong?" Kuni asked, startled as he'd almost felt like he was falling asleep himself, with the sound of the sea in the background…

"The guards have captured someone," Kaguya told him, sounding worried. "They seem to think he's a demon… but I know he isn't, he's one of Amaterasu's friends…!"

"Do… you think we should try and help…?"

"I don't know if we can," Kaguya sighed. "We can't go to the city and demand they release him. We'll probably only get caught too. But… I know how terrible it is to be locked up for no reason… I wish there was something we could do…"

"He's Amaterasu's friend? That's what you said, right?" Kuni checked. "Then why don't we let her know? She could help."

"How?" Kaguya asked helplessly. "I mean, I could probably find out where she is, but… getting there is another matter."

"Oh yeah," Kuni muttered. Mutt had never liked staying in one place for too long so perhaps it ran in the family.

_Mutt…_

He shook his head slightly. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about Mutt. Someone needed their help.

Then all of a sudden he had an idea.

"There's a Guardian Sapling around here somewhere, right?"

"What?" Kaguya blinked. "Yes, but—"

"Where is it?"

"At the top of the cliffs up there, there's a path near the temple," Kaguya shrugged. "But I don't see how that—"

Not waiting for her to finish her sentence, Kuni turned and raced away across the beach.

"Kuni, wait! What does the guardian sapling have to do with any of this!?"

"We need to find Miss Sakuya!" Kuni called. "She'll be able to find Amaterasu!"

* * *

It hadn't taken Kaguya long to catch up to Kuni since he'd had no idea at all where he was going – he didn't know where the Guardian Sapling was since he'd never been there. Once she'd found him, getting lost in the cliff paths, she lead the way to the large cherry blossom that overlooked Ryoshima.

"Here we are," she spoke up as they reached the top of the path. "I still don't know how a tree is going to help us find Amaterasu…"

"Just wait," Kuni assured her, racing over to the edge of the ring of water that surrounded the tree. "Miss Sakuya! Are you there?"

For a moment nothing happened. Then there was a flash of pink in the air, bright against the dusk colours of the coast. A few cherry blossom petals drifted around the tree, and a moment later the light faded to reveal a woman with long black hair, who appeared to be floating in the air.

Kaguya was somewhat taken aback. Although thinking about it, she had the feeling she'd heard about something like this before. This person must be a wood sprite.

"Ah, Kuni," the woman said formally. "Is something wrong?"

"Um… for some reason the city's guards have captured one of Amaterasu's friends," Kuni told her. "We thought you might be able to tell her so she can help him…"

"I could warn Amaterasu," Sakuya nodded. "If I knew where she was."

"Oh," Kuni sighed. "Well, never mind then."

"But you can locate Amaterasu, can you not?"

Kaguya jumped as she realised Sakuya was looking at her. "I-I… how did…"

"I can sense your power," Sakuya explained. "You can see what is going on throughout the land. If you can locate Amaterasu then I can tell her what is going on."

Kaguya was silent for a moment as she got over the eeriness that Sakuya could simply sense what her power was. Then she nodded. "Okay. Give me a few minutes and I'll find her."

Closing her eyes, Kaguya searched the land for a familiar white wolf. The rest of Nippon seemed pretty quiet. There were a few imps in the forest but they wouldn't be much of a threat. She spent a few minutes scanning the whole of Shinshu before doubling back and looking around Ryoshima, even though she doubted the goddess was here.

She couldn't find Amaterasu anywhere… or at least, not in Nippon.

Yet she remembered another place she might be. Now Kaguya scanned the frozen lands of Kamui. It was hard to tell if there was anything here with all the white of the snow, and added to that everything was slightly fuzzy anyway since Kamui was further away than Nippon. She hadn't needed to search quite this far with her powers before…

_Wait. There._

She'd finally located the goddess. Now she just had to work out _where_ she was…

Somewhere nearby some water, and the ground nearby was edged with snow… and there were some mountains in the distance.

"The lake near Ezofuji," she told them, opening her eyes at last.

"Ezofuji?" Kuni echoed, sounding confused. "Never heard of that place…"

"Hmm, that's quite far away from a Guardian Sapling," Sakuya commented. "But I'll try and get a message to Amaterasu."

* * *

"Ugh. Ammy, I'm bored. And it's cold out here. Why don't we just go back to Wep'keer already?"

The goddess didn't give any clear reply. She simply gave a quiet grumble, nudging a rock into the water with one paw.

"I mean, how much longer is this going to take?" Issun sighed. "We've been waiting here for ages."

Amaterasu gave a half-bark.

"Okay, ten minutes. But it still feels like ages."

Just then a pink light arched through the air towards them, coming to a halt a few metres away.

"What the…" _That's not the prophet._

Ammy looked confused for a moment. Then she jumped up, giving a bark, her tail wagging.

A moment later the light faded, revealing the wood sprite.

"Oh hey, Sakuya, sweetie!" Issun chirped, his dull mood immediately gone. "You came all the way out here to see me—I mean, us?"

"Yes, I have a message for Amaterasu," Sakuya explained. "But I don't have much time to convey it. This place is far from a guardian sapling and my power won't let me stay so far away for long."

"Huh," Issun muttered. Though to be honest, she did seem a bit less clear than usual… not that he'd like been looking at her or anything. "Well, what is it, honey?"

"Amaterasu, there's a message from the city at Ryoshima. Your help is needed there…"

"Sei'an? They need our help? Why?" Issun persisted.

"That is all I have time to say. I hope it will be of assistance."

Sakuya seemed to be fading already. She vanished back into the glowing pink light, which disappeared back off over the cliffs, presumably back to the Guardian Sapling in Kamui.

"Huh… I wonder what's going on in the city. I mean, if Sakuya had to deliver a message to us for them—OH GEEZ!"

He broke off as Ammy suddenly rushed over and picked him up, racing away along the path back to the village.

"Eww! Eww! Wolf spit! Aaah! Gross! Furball, you could have just waited for me to jump back onto your head!"

* * *

Kuni waited for Sakuya to reappear. It had been a few minutes since she vanished.

"Do you think she was able to get to Amaterasu?" Kaguya asked quietly.

As if in answer to her question, the wood sprite appeared in the air above them.

"Did you find them?" Kuni spoke up immediately.

"I managed to find them and gave them as much of the message as I could," Sakuya nodded. "Hopefully Amaterasu will be on her way soon."

"Oh, good," Kaguya sighed in relief.

"Until the goddess returns here, I'd advise you and everyone else to be careful," Sakuya warned.

"What? Why?" Kuni blinked. He knew that apparently the city's guards were slightly confused, but as long as they didn't get mistaken for demons as well…

"I am sensing that there is something wrong in the land," Sakuya sighed. "I can't tell what it is, but there is a dark power coming from somewhere, and I believe it has already started to affect the people of Nippon…"

* * *

It was late into the night by the time Amaterasu and Issun arrived at Ryoshima. The goddess could tell that Issun was tired from the fact that he'd hardly spoken a word through half the journey here.

Yet the second she'd finished listening to Sakuya's message, Ammy had raced here as quickly as she could. There was trouble in the city. Since it couldn't have been that long since Waka was last here she had the horrible feeling that there was some connection. That must be why he'd never arrived at Ezofuji…

"Amaterasu!"

She skidded to a halt as she heard someone call her name. Both she and Issun glanced around.

"Oh, Kaguya!" Issun greeted the Moon Tribe girl as she walked over to them from one of the paths leading off into the cliffs. "What're you doing here, honeypie?"

"I'm assuming you two got the message," Kaguya commented. "The one from… Sakuya…? Was that her name…?"

"Yep, and yep," Issun nodded. "So what was that message about? There some trouble in the city?"

"Amaterasu, the guards captured your friend," Kaguya told her. "They seemed to think he was a demon…"

"Wait, what!?" Issun cried. "You mean we came all the way here just for that darn prophet!?"

The wolf ignored him. Not waiting for any more of an explanation, she raced away along the sandy path. She had to get to the city. She had to save Waka…

"Whoa, whoa! Hold it, furball!"

Amaterasu skidded to a halt once more as she felt Issun tugging on her ear. She glanced up at him.

"We don't even know what the heck is going on here! What if it's all a misunderstanding? Knowing that prophet…" Issun mumbled arrogantly.

The wolf let out a quiet whine. _But he's been caught by the city's guards. If it's just a misunderstanding then we have to help him, they'll have locked him up…!_

"Well if that's the case then he can stay there," Issun tutted, rolling his eyes. "Makes no difference to me."

She let gave a faint growl. _We have to get him back._

"What, you're really that desperate to leave, furball?" Issun snapped.

_Huh? _Amaterasu blinked. Why did he sound so hurt? She knew he didn't like Waka but he didn't deserve to be held captive in Sei'an for no reason…

"We might as well just leave him there! Knowing that darn fruitcake he'll manage to get himself out of trouble eventually albeit getting a few scars on the way. Why should he need our help?"

Ammy just sighed. Issun was just getting upset because as soon as they had Waka back she'd be leaving to go to the Celestial Plain…

"Well fine then!" Issun huffed, hopping down from her head. "See if I care!"

_What? Issun, wait…_

"No! If you wanna go help that prophet then do it on your own!" Issun cried, jumping away across the sand. "You just run along now and rescue Rapunzel and float on back to your Celestial Plain, sun god."

_Wait!_ Ammy barked, taking a step forwards. They couldn't leave like this again…

Issun halted for a moment and glanced around. "No! Just go away, you stupid wolf!"

Amaterasu stopped following him as he turned away once more. She was left watching in dismay as the small green light disappeared into the distance. Why? Why was Issun so mad at her all of a sudden?

_I don't understand…_


	4. Imprisoned

**Well then. After the previous chapter being late you get this one early. Yay?**

**Even if the day pattern has become disfigured, we can be contented knowing that I am still finishing chapters at 10:45PM. Hazaah.**

**So then, looks like Waka isn't going to be breaking his chapters-being-unconscious record just yet... which I believe is either 4 or 5 chapters so far...**

**Now, I told you there was giong to be an OC in this story, so say hello to Kazuki. He'll probably serve some kind of purpose later but for now... he's just sorta there.**

**Also hey, looks like in the next chapter we'll be heading to an Okamiden-only area. ISN'T THIS EXCITING? 8D**

**No? OK.**

* * *

_Quoi… where am I…?_

Waka struggled to regain his vision as he opened his eyes. Wherever he was, there was certainly a lack of colour here…

The last thing he could remember was facing those guards outside the city. He could still feel his head throbbing from when they'd knocked him out.

_So why am I here…?_

He jolted up instantly as he realised what this meant. Now his eyes were finally focusing properly he could see the cell he was trapped in, bars stretching across the window and making up one of the walls where the door was. Not only that, but there was a chain around his right arm. He tried to pull it off but it was locked tight.

Well, this was annoying. Thanks to that chain he couldn't just teleport out of here…

On the bright side, at least it was on his right arm. His left arm was still aching.

_Now then. How do I get out of here?_

He didn't know what the guards intended to do with him. If the plan was just to leave him here to starve to death then that would never work and he'd be stuck here for years.

No. He needed to escape. Amaterasu was probably worrying about him… and Issun would be complaining about him as usual, most likely.

Waka knew that there was no way of getting the chain off his arm without a key. The other end of the chain was attached to one of the bars on the wall but that was fixed firmly, one of the links around the bar. Simply tying it there would have been too easy to get out of. The only way he could escape from this would be if he could break the chain. Annoyingly, both his swords were gone, so the guards must have confiscated them while he was blacked out.

Still, the chain didn't look all that strong… maybe he could break it…

He tried pulling on the chain to rip the links apart. If he could break free from the chain anchoring him to this room them he could just teleport away and find Amaterasu.

Yet the chain wouldn't budge. There was a scraping of metal every time he tried to break free, so hopefully there were no guards around in here…

"Hey, could you cut that out? I'm trying to sleep here; it's the middle of the night, incase you hadn't noticed."

For a moment Waka froze. Then he realised that if it was a guard speaking to him then they wouldn't be sleeping whilst on duty. And yes, he'd been trying to ignore the moonlight shining through the barred window. Now it was just patronising him.

"Sorry, I'm sure usually people _love_ being locked in a cell for no reason," Waka muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Eh, no worries. Just ignore me; I only got a few hours sleep before someone woke me up."

"Désolé," Waka apologised again. "I just have somewhere I need to be, that's all."

"That sucks. I'd say I do too but to be honest with you I'd rather be anywhere than this place," the stranger sighed. Waka couldn't see them since they were in a cell further along, but they sounded like a young man. "You've got an accent. You're not a tourist, are you?"

Waka laughed. "Hardly. I lived in the city before for a long time." 200 years to be precise, but he didn't need to know that. "I… left… last year, and apparently that's how long it takes for the guards to unexplainably turn on you and start calling you a demon."

"You're not really a demon, right?"

"Non, of course not."

"Okay good. And yeah, the guards have gone loopy recently."

"I'm guessing you're another person they've dragged in here for no reason?" Waka asked plainly.

"Yeah. The guards are going crazy. They think I'm a demon too. I've been in here for at least a day already."

Waka hesitated as he tried to phrase his next question. "Do you… do you know what they plan to do with you…?"

"Well… last I heard… they plan to have me executed."

"_Quoi!?_" Waka exclaimed. "Executed!?"

"I've been trying not to think about it."

"Mon dieu… this isn't right," Waka stated. He was unwilling even to admit to himself that the thought horrified him. "They can't just execute people on the suspicion that they _might_ be a demon."

"Well, it's not as if we can do anything about it. We're stuck in here."

"Then we have to find a way out." Granted Waka knew that as far as he was concerned, for everything he'd done in the past he probably deserved to be killed. But he didn't intend on getting executed by the city's guards for no reason other than them going insane. He needed to get Amaterasu back to the Celestial Plain or the place could end up getting torn apart again.

There was a long silence.

"By the way… it's Kazuki."

"What?"

"My name's Kazuki. Friends call me Kaz. Well… yeah, everyone just calls me Kazuki really."

The prophet hesitated for a moment before replying. "Waka. I don't have any nicknames worth mentioning so I'll leave it at that."

"I could call you Wa if you want."

"I'm fine, thanks."

* * *

Everything was silent outside the city as Amaterasu warily padded towards the entrance. She knew that Issun was angry at her right now but hopefully if she left him alone for a while he'd get over it.

Although, he'd never gotten so upset over something so trivial before…

Right now though, she needed to find a way to rescue Waka. Hopefully the guards would at least remember who she was.

As soon as she reached the city gate, she noticed two guards standing outside. Upon hearing their pawsteps they both glanced up, noticing her instantly.

Amaterasu gave a hopeful bark, tail wagging. Did they recognise her?

"Intruder!" one of them shouted.

"We won't let you harm the city, creepy wolf!"

Her tail drooped. So the guards didn't recognise her after all.

The second guard took the bow from his shoulder and loaded an arrow into it. "Stay back, demon!"

A second later he fired. Luckily the goddess was more than able to jump out of the way as the arrow embedded itself in the ground.

She looked around quickly. The first guard was unsheathing a sword and the second one was reaching for more arrows. Not only that, but she could see more guards heading up here from the city.

As much as she wanted to remind these guards who she really was by kicking their butts, she didn't want to hurt them. It looked like she was going to have to find another way into the city.

Ducking as an arrow whizzed past her fur, Ammy turned and raced away before any of the guards would try attacking her again.

She hurried down the path leading to the gate to North Ryoshima. Perhaps she could find a way down into the city from the cliffs there.

The gate wasn't even there anymore. There were a few remains of wood as if it had burnt down, although it seemed that had happened some time ago. Apparently a lot happened while she was on the Celestial Plain…

Racing along the path, Amaterasu suddenly slowed to a halt, head raised and ears pricked. She was getting a strange sense about this place…

North Ryoshima looked a lot different than before as well. Now there was a massive gaping hole in the ground in the middle of the area which definitely hadn't been there before. Curiosity getting the better of her, she raced over to check it out.

As she reached the edge of the hole and looked down, she noticed a few pieces of metal glinting in the moonlight amongst the shattered rocks. The hole was pretty big, stretching for at least thirty metres along, and she noticed that further along the ground there were more pieces of scattered metal. It looked like the same type of material that the Ark of Yamato was made of… had there been something made by the Moon Tribe here?

Unfortunately, since Waka wasn't here, he couldn't tell her.

But still, now that she was closer to the hole in the ground, the strange sense she'd picked up seemed even stronger… it almost seemed like an evil aura. Yet there was something odd about it. It definitely wasn't an imp, that was for sure.

In some places here the ground had crumbled away. Amaterasu hopped down into the hole to get a closer look. She walked over to the edge of one of the gaps, jumping back quickly as a few stones fell away under her paws. There seemed to be some tunnels down here…

The aura was coming from somewhere within the tunnels, she could tell. Perhaps this was what was affecting the guards?

Well, whether it was or not, it was definitely something evil. That was enough to require it to be checked out.

Drawing a cherry bomb to make the gap bigger, Amaterasu waited for it to explode and create a bigger entrance before jumping down into the tunnels.

* * *

It took a painfully long time for sunlight to finally seep in through the barred window of the cell. A guard walked through the hallway at first light, presumably on patrol, although Waka made sure to avoid eye contact. There was no saying what those guards would do if they really thought he was a demon.

Once the guard left, it was eerily silent in the prison. Waka had given up on trying to think of an escape plan; he'd spent all night trying to come up with a way out, and got nothing. He couldn't break this chain off and there was no way of unlocking the door either.

He was starting to wonder if this was how Amaterasu had felt when Tero captured her…

The only alternative to sitting in here in silence would be to talk to Kazuki, but Waka wasn't exactly big on conversations. He wouldn't have been able to think of anything to talk _about_.

Eventually the silence was broken by the sound of footsteps. Was the guard back already?

Once the person finally came into view he saw that it wasn't a guard at all, but a young girl. What was she doing here…?

Then he realised that he recognised her.

_Kagu._

She was a miko, she was allowed in the palace – and that included the prison area. Though why anyone would want to come in here without good reason he'd never know.

"Oh, it's you," she said plainly, stopping outside his cell. Obviously she recognised him from when they'd met before a few weeks ago.

"Oui, it's me," Waka shrugged. "Fancy lending a hand and telling the guards that I'm not a demon?" They'd worked together to defend the city before. Combined with the fact that Kagu was a miko, she must know that he wasn't a demon.

Yet still, she glared at him. "It doesn't matter whether you're a demon or not. You still deserve to be in here!"

"Quoi?" Waka blinked, but Kagu turned and raced away out of sight without answering.

What was that supposed to mean…?

"Wow. What the heck was that all about?" Kazuki spoke up at last.

"I don't know," Waka sighed. "I honestly don't know."


	5. A Helping Hand

**Sooooo look who's finally being introduced in this chapter. THE ANTAGONIST.**

**And Word absolutely HATES their style of speech. Green lines. Everywhere.**

**Now then. I'm gonna need to find some sandwich filling for this story because I need to stretch it out more... OTL**

**EVERYTHING'S HAPPENING SO FAAASSSSTTT**

* * *

It was nearly pitch black in the tunnels. The ground was cold underfoot and everything smelt of earth.

Amaterasu padded onward without even a spark of fear. She was a goddess; she wasn't scared of demons and she definitely wasn't scared of the dark. Besides, she still had her sense of smell to stop her from accidentally walking into any of the walls.

She could feel the tunnels gradually sloping downwards, and soon she could tell that she was deep underground. After a short while, she finally noticed some light ahead. A faint blue glow, flickering slightly.

Tipping her head to one side and letting out a quiet grumble, Amaterasu quickened her pace.

Around the corner, the tunnel opened out. Here was a small room, metallic walls with flickering blue lines snaking across them. There was a screen on one of the walls with some kind of strange symbols scrolling on it, like the screens that had been in Waka's house, and every so often it would flicker. It seemed like there had been some kind of Moon Tribe technology here, but something had happened to cause the higher levels of this area to explode… she didn't doubt that this had something to do with that demon Akuro who Chibi had defeated a few months ago.

The wolf padded through the room, claws tapping on the metal floor. There were various exits so this place was probably somewhat of a maze. Choosing a path to take at random, she headed back into the semi-darkness.

Every so often there was a pattern of blue lines on the wall, providing a dim light and proving that she was still within the ruins. The evil aura was gradually getting stronger the deeper she went.

At first glance, the path appeared to come to a dead end. A blue marking glowed at the end of the path, providing some light, and upon closer inspection she noticed some stairs.

Ears twitching, Amaterasu looked at the stairs for a moment, deciding whether to go any further underground or continue exploring up here. Then she just shrugged and took off down the stairway.

Once she reached the bottom of the steps, she glanced around once more. This was another large metal room. Computers lined the walls but most of the screens were cracked. A few lines glowed on the walls, but these ones were red instead of blue.

It didn't take long to notice the black mist swirling around the ceiling.

* * *

Not far away in the palace prisons, there wasn't much to do _but_ look at the ceiling.

Waka lay on the prison bed, staring up at what he could see of the stone roof above him in the dim moonlight. He'd been here for a day now, and he was seriously starting to get concerned. He still couldn't find any way to escape. And if he didn't get out of here, well… it seemed that he wouldn't live to tell the tale.

Kazuki hadn't spoken for a long while, so he'd probably fallen asleep. But Waka knew he'd never be able to do the same. He was too preoccupied with trying to think of a way out of here, wondering what Kagu was so mad at him for and worrying about Amaterasu…

What if it wasn't just that the guards were going crazy? Perhaps there was something affecting them… in which case, it was highly possible that other people were affected as well. And as it seemed, he wasn't the only one who became the victim of it… what if they turned on Amaterasu as well?

_No. Ma chérie is fine. She must be. I'm the one who's trapped here…_

Maybe he was worrying too much. The whole Tero incident had made him paranoid. How close they'd come to losing the sun goddess…

_Amaterasu is fine. I have more pressing matters to deal with right now._ Being locked in a cell was starting to get to him.

There was the creaking of a heavy door as one of the guards walked into the corridor for a patrol. Waka barely noticed. Too busy thinking.

What was annoying him the most was that he hadn't foreseen any of this. Not when Tero had tried to kill the goddess and not now either. Without knowing the outcome, that left even more room for speculation, and with everything he'd seen in the past Waka couldn't help but expect the worst. When he'd fought Tero to save Amaterasu he'd had to try and believe in his own ability to win the fight, and that was something he wasn't used to having to do.

Waka let out a long sigh. This was getting him nowhere.

"Uagh!"

_What the—_

He jumped up instantly as he heard the shout from further down the room, cut short and followed by the distinctive sound of someone collapsing.

"Kazuki!" Waka called. "What's going on?"

No reply. Was he hurt? Had the guard done something to him? He had been in here longer than Waka, after all, but only by a day or so… and if the guards were trying to kill him already…

Even looking through the bars of the cell he couldn't see far enough to find out what was happening. Yet he could hear a creaking noise, like a door opening… followed shortly by a slam.

A moment later, a shadow flashed past the front of the cell. It halted, doubling back.

"So I'm guessing you wanna get outta here, right?"

Waka just blinked, somewhat surprised. "Kazuki?"

"What, you think I didn't wanna escape?" Kazuki laughed, holding the ring of keys up in the air where they glinted in the moonlight. "Better hurry though, that guard won't be out for long."

Pushing the shock aside, Waka shrugged. "Fine then. Prison breakout it is."

Kazuki took a moment finding the right key before shoving it in the lock, attempting to unlock the door but not being very successful. "Hang on, I got this…"

Waka rolled his eyes and held out a hand. "Give it here."

Kazuki glanced up arrogantly, eyes glinting in the low light. Red eyes. Perhaps that was why the guards had mistaken him for a demon. Though it was still hard to see in the darkness. He took the key out of the lock and tossed the ring through the bars of the cell. "Okay, geez."

With a shrug, Waka effortlessly unlocked the door. He found a smaller key and managed to finally remove the chain from his right arm. It was good to be free of that thing…

"Ambidextrous. Lucky," Kazuki muttered as Waka swung the door open and stepped out.

"Quoi?"

"Nothing. Let's get out of here."

As much as Waka wanted to just teleport away and be free from this place, he had the feeling that if he left Kazuki here on his own he might get captured again. The guy had just helped him get out of the cell, he owed him that much. And he also needed to find where the guards had put his weapons; he didn't want to face them unarmed…

"In a minute. The guards took my swords when they put me in here and I need to get them back."

"Seriously?" Kazuki sighed. "Okay, fine, but if you get us locked back in here again…"

"Jamais peur, I won't. I can get us out of here." Hopefully.

* * *

Amaterasu growled as she watched the swirling black mist. So there was a demon here after all. And it must be a reasonably powerful one for there to be this much fog.

"Ama… sun god…?"

Her ears pricked as she heard the voice. Yet it echoed around the place and she couldn't tell where it was coming from. She glanced around, trying to spot anything in the darkness.

"Ama… why you here. Nobody go here. Not anymore."

Amaterasu stopped growling, listening for any signs of there being someone else here. All she could hear was the voice. There was no scent other than her own and the aura that travelled with the mist.

"You look for me, aren't you? You want find way to save friend."

The wolf let out a confused grunt. How did this person – or whatever it was– know that?

"I can read mind. Your friend. Trapped. Not for long. He escape."

_Escape?_ Ammy stood back up to her full height, tipping her head to one side.

"He try to escape guards now. Not your concern."

Amaterasu let out another growl. She wanted to know who or what was talking to her. Whatever it was, it didn't sound particularly good at speaking…

"Who I? My name DD."

The goddess glanced around again. DD? That was an odd name… and where were they?

"You want know where?" DD asked. "Look up."

She tried looking up, but she still couldn't see anything. Only the swirling black mist.

"I no have body. Just mist. When I have more power, I get body."

Taking a step back, Amaterasu let out another growl. DD definitely wasn't a human. _He must be a demon. There's no other creature that would be made up of swirling mist…_

"Yes. I demon. Now you no like me."

_Huh?_

"People no like demons. It not fair. Demons 'evil'. But humans easy to fool."

Amaterasu took another step back. What was this thing saying? Was it responsible for the guards turning against them…?

"Yes, that me. People no like demons. Now you know what's like. More people hate, more power I get. Soon I have real body."

So this was the demon responsible. Because of this thing, Waka had been captured, the guards had turned against her… maybe that was even why Issun had been so mad at her.

But why was it only manipulating the people? Surely it would have caused a lot more confusion if DD had used her as a source of hatred…

Better not think things like that. DD could read her mind; she didn't want him getting ideas…

Apparently he hadn't missed the thought. "It no work on Ama. Or Moon Tribe. Mind too old. Block out telepathy."

So that was how it worked. DD was sending thoughts to the people in the city, which would confuse them… but it wouldn't work on her or Waka because they were too old.

Well now. That was the first time anyone had called her old…

"Not just city. All Nippon. Much more power created. You no stop me."

Amaterasu jumped back into her defensive position, letting out a snarl. _I will stop you. I need to protect Nippon. And I'll do that by defeating you._

"You no defeat me. Impossible. You can't hurt me. I have no body. I can't hurt you either though."

She narrowed her eyes. So she couldn't defeat DD. Yet.

So how was she going to stop him?


	6. Making an Escape

**Weellll sorry for the slightly late chapter, but on the bright side... there's... a new chapter... yay...?**

**You know I said there was something interesting about Kaz? Well now you can find out mk.**

**Also, Merry Christmas! 8D**

* * *

There was a surprising lack of guards around the palace prisons. They must be confident that none of the prisoners would escape and that they wouldn't need to keep too much of an eye on them. Well, they'd obviously gone wrong there.

Although, to be honest, the guards probably wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway.

Waka had nothing to go on but the fading candlelight as he led the way through the halls of the palace. It was a good thing he'd worked under the rulers of the city for so long; he generally knew his way around the building, although his sense of direction was slightly lessened by the darkness.

"Ow!"

"You might want to watch out for that pillar," Waka said casually, not even bothering to look back because he knew he wouldn't be able to see anything anyway.

"Oh, thanks for the warning," Kazuki tutted, the sarcasm heavy in his voice. "Do you even know where we're going?"

"More or less," he shrugged. "There's a room near here where the guards keep their weapons, and if memory serves that's where they put confiscated weapons too."

"Okay I'm not even gonna bother asking _how_ you know all this."

"Good, because it would take too much time to explain."

Kazuki let out a long sigh. "I don't even know why I'm following you; I should just escape on my own."

"You don't know the way out."

"Oh shut up!"

Waka just smiled. It was always fun winding people up…

Eventually he spotted a dim light up ahead. Listening briefly for any voices, or other signs of there being anyone here, he soon decided that the place seemed empty enough. Walking over to the door the light was coming from, he cautiously glanced inside.

There was nobody there, but a candle burned in the centre of the room. The walls were lined with shelves of weapons, everything from swords and knives to arrows and shuriken.

"We'll have to be quick," Waka warned, stepping into the room and trying to work out where the guards would have put his swords. "The light is still on so the guards probably come in here often."

"Whoa!" Kazuki gasped when he saw the room. He glanced around, eyes wide. "This looks… dangerous…"

"They're just weapons," Waka rolled his eyes. "They won't harm you unless someone's using them."

Now that they were in some light, Waka could finally see Kazuki. He looked to be in his early twenties, with shoulder-length black hair tied back, a pale blue kimono, navy hakama, boots, and a white scarf around his neck.

"Well, you know… still dangerous," Kazuki shrugged.

Deciding to just ignore him, Waka cast a quick glance around the room. _Aha._ There was a shelf in the corner that had all sorts of weapons on it. Not wasting any time, Waka walked over and retrieved his katana and flute. He was surprised that the guards had even put the flute here. To them it wouldn't have looked like a weapon at all… they must have been very wary guards.

"Trés bien. Let's go," Waka declared, sliding the katana back into its sheath.

"A flute?" Kazuki blinked.

With a shrug, Waka unsheathed the glowing green blade of Pillow Talk.

"… Point taken. Literally."

"You might want to grab a weapon," Waka muttered. "If you don't have one of your own then just take one of the guards'."

Kazuki cast a glance at the lines of weapons on the walls. "Eh… I'm not much of a fighter…"

"It's better to at least have a weapon. The chances are we'll run into some more guards on the way out of here and you don't want to face them unarmed."

"Well fine, but I'm not going to be any good at using a sword."

"Take a bow and arrow then"

"Um… nah, I can't use a bow."

"You don't need to have a good aim to shoot someone who's right in front of you, even the guards know that."

"No, really. I can't use a bow."

"Quoi? Why not?"

Kazuki shrugged. "Because you need two hands to use one."

_Huh…?_

Until now, Waka hadn't been paying enough attention to notice how the right sleeve of Kazuki's kimono swayed limply back and forth at his side. Now it made sense. Yet Waka couldn't help but feel somewhat shocked.

_He only has one arm…_

* * *

The moon was low in the sky by the time Amaterasu emerged from the ruins. Just from walking through the tunnels she had pieces of grit in her fur and she had to give herself a brisk shake to get them out.

When her fur was clean again, she looked up at the sky. She had to try and decide what to do next.

If Waka had somehow managed to escape from the prison then he'd probably be fine. She wouldn't be able to find him easily so her best bet would be to just wait for him to randomly turn up like he always did.

For now, she needed to try and figure out how to defeat DD. She couldn't fight him since he was just a floating cloud of mist. Was there another way to get rid of him?

Well, she'd think of something. There was always some way of defeating a demon, she just had to work out what it was this time.

This would have been a lot easier if Issun was here…

Perhaps she should go and look for him. It had been a few hours since she'd last seen him and maybe he'd have got over the demon's manipulation by now. Not only that, but she could find out how far DD was using his powers as well if she travelled back across Nippon.

Lifting her head higher, the goddess glanced at the sky. Light was just starting to appear over the horizon. Ah well, she wouldn't disturb the natural order too much.

She flicked her tail in a circle, ink splashing onto the earth. The sun appeared abruptly in the sky, flooding the coast with light.

Amaterasu raced away up the slope towards the gate. She had a poncle to find.

* * *

"What? What's wrong?"

"Ah…" Waka snapped back to reality as Kazuki spoke. He glanced away hurriedly. "Nothing."

"In that case," Kazuki tutted, wandering further into the room and carefully picking up one of the guards' swords as if he expected it to attack him, "can we get out of here already?"

"Oui… let's go," Waka nodded, brusquely walking out through the door and back into the pitch black corridor.

"Hey, wait up!"

The prophet slowed his pace slightly but didn't pay much attention to the fellow escapee. He was trying to get over the fact of how uneasy he felt now. In all the centuries he'd lived for, he'd never come across somebody who was missing an arm before. He couldn't even imagine what that would be like…

His thoughts were interrupted as suddenly light poured in through the small windows of the room.

"What the heck!?" Kazuki cried, glancing around warily. "What's going on?"

Waka breathed a small sigh of relief. "Don't worry about it." He knew what this meant; the sun had just appeared in the sky.

_Ma chérie… she's okay…_

_Although now that it isn't dark anymore we may have a lot more trouble getting out of here without being noticed._

"If… you say so…" Kazuki muttered. He didn't sound entirely convinced, but that was probably to be expected.

"Halt!"

Waka glanced around at last to see a couple of guards at the far end of the corridor. Wow. He'd thought they might get discovered quickly now that the place was light but he hadn't thought the guards would find them quite _that_ quickly…

"Uhh, what now?" Kazuki asked, looking somewhat worried.

"Isn't it obvious?" Waka shrugged.

"No?"

"We run."

* * *

Amaterasu cast one look back at Ryoshima Coast as she neared the corner at the path that would take her to the big drawbridge. She'd spent a while looking for Issun but finding him was proving to be harder than she'd first thought. Every so often she'd catch a faint scent but a moment later it was gone again. This was one of those times when the fact that he was so small and never stayed in one place for very long was rather irritating…

Ah well. She'd be coming back here soon. Hopefully he'd find her when she returned.

Leaving the coast behind, the wolf padded across the grassy path and headed across the drawbridge. She hesitated for a moment as she realised there was a guard standing at the far end but soon realised that, as per usual, he was fast asleep. Whether DD's powers worked on people while they were sleeping she didn't know, but at least since the guard wasn't awake he couldn't attack her or try and stop her from going past.

Taka Pass looked just the same as it always had. There was a lingering smell of imp which proved that there were still a few of them around, but Amaterasu hadn't seen any demons other than DD since all of these problems started. At least that was one less thing to worry about. If it wasn't for the knowledge of what was going on in the city, Nippon would seem perfectly normal from here…

As she neared the fork in the path, Ammy glanced up the slope leading into the mountain. Kusa Village was the nearest settlement to the city, however it was in a very remote area out here; perhaps DD's power wouldn't have spread this far?

There was only one way to find out.

The wolf sped up the path, flowers and grass sprouting behind her as she ran. She was nearly at the village when she heard some fierce growling coming from up ahead.

Amaterasu skidded to a halt, ears pricked and head tipped to one side. What was going on?

A loud snarl. Behind her.

She swiftly jumped around as a snarling dog jumped towards her with a flurry of claws. Easily dodging, she hopped backwards, giving a warning growl.

Then she stopped and lifted her head. It was just Tei. She let out a bark.

Surprisingly, even though he'd have had plenty of time to recognise her by now, Tei was still snarling. A moment later, Shin appeared from behind one of the rocks, padding over to stand next to him. There was more growling from somewhere behind her and the wolf glanced around to see Rei, Ko and Chi blocking the path to the village.

She was trapped.

But why?

"Oh! Tei, it's just Amaterasu," Chi spoke up at last. "We can trust the sun goddess."

"No!" Tei snapped.

"Huh?" Ko blinked.

"We mustn't let the intruder get into the village," Shin growled.

Amaterasu tipped her head to one side. What was going on here?

"Well done, _Amaterasu_," Rei snarled. "You really had us fooled."

"No, seriously… huh?" Ko repeated. "What are you three going on about?"

"We all thought she was the sun goddess," Tei's unscarred eye narrowed. "When she was really a demon all along."

"What!?" Chi cried. "Guys, Amaterasu _is_ the sun goddess. You know that."

"No she isn't! She's a demon!" Shin persisted.

Ko and Chi exchanged a glance.

"Do you think they ate some bad meat or something?" Ko said plainly.

"This wolf is a demon," Tei said firmly, his teeth bared in a vicious snarl. "And demons must be killed!"


	7. Sunlight

**Sorry the chapters are rather late nowadays, I seem to keep getting distracted by writing other stuff and video games and the revision that I _should_ be doing...**

**And sorry Ammy but it looks like you're gonna have to go another chapter before we find out what happens to you because this is Waka's chapter mk.**

**And lookie here, there was almost a titledrop of the previous story again. I can't see any way for me to accidentally make a titledrop to this story though so the fourth wall is safe for now.**

* * *

"Geez, these guys just don't give up, do they?" Kazuki tutted as the two of them raced through the halls of the castle. Both his scarf and the right sleeve of his kimono streamed out behind him as he ran and it was a miracle they didn't get caught on anything. "At least they run slow."

"If you carried around half a ton of weapons, you wouldn't be able to run fast either," Waka muttered. He was only half-listening to Kazuki, still trying to remember how to find the way out of here.

"It's a good thing they do. If we can outrun them we don't have to fight."

That was a good point. Waka didn't know what was causing the guards to think they were demons, but he had the feeling that it wasn't of their own will. The city's guards weren't usually so judgemental. They were often wary of strangers – that was their job – but they wouldn't outright attack someone for no reason without there being some proof of them being a threat first. He didn't know what had caused them to imprison Kazuki, but Waka had the feeling it was probably under similar circumstances.

But still, if these guards were being manipulated by something, it wasn't their fault. If possible Waka wanted to avoid fighting them so that nobody would get hurt.

Eventually Waka saw a wall up ahead. This was where the corridor looped around and where the lift was, and slightly beyond that was the entrance of the palace.

"The way out is just ahead," he said plainly.

"Oh, finally!" Kazuki sighed with relief. "So sick of this place."

"Look out! The prisoners are escaping!" one of the guards shouted from further back along the room.

_Oh great,_ Waka thought as he realised what this meant. "There are more guards up ahead. Don't fight them unless you have to, just try and get away."

"That's what I was intending to do in the first place," Kaz muttered.

As they reached the end of the corridor, two more guards appeared. They were clearly about to attempt to block the path but didn't arrive in time.

"Excusez-moi!" Waka said pointedly as they raced past.

"You idiots!" the guard behind them snapped. "Don't let them get away!"

They burst out into the sunlight, leaving the guards behind in the palace.

"Freedom!" Kazuki shouted.

"No time to celebrate just yet," Waka reminded him. "We still have to escape. The guards probably won't give up chasing us until we reach the edge of the ci—"

He quickly had to dodge aside as a blade slashed just inches from his arm. The newest guards were younger than the others and carried much lighter weapons, so they could run faster and had caught up with them already. They had to escape from here as quickly as possible. Maybe these guards wouldn't be much of a threat but if they stopped to fight them the others would catch up and they'd be vastly outnumbered.

"Okay, point taken," Kazuki said quickly, running faster to avoid the guards. "Not to be the bearer of obvious news, but there's a railing ahead…"

"Just try and stay away from these guards!" Waka called. He dodged another weapon as the other guard tried to take a swipe at him and raced after Kazuki.

They had crossed the outside of the palace. Now they just had to get down the stairs and avoid the guards at the gate…

No time to take the stairs. The guards would catch up to them easily and one of them was holding a bow and arrow.

"We might have to jump for it," Waka warned Kazuki as they neared the edge of the platform.

"No sweat!" Kazuki said, glancing back for a split second.

The other escapee reached the railing first. Much to Waka's surprise, he hurdled the barrier, making the two-metre drop to the ground below and landing somewhat heavily on both feet. It was as if he was used to doing that sort of thing.

Now then. Waka just had to try and follow him. This would have been a lot easier if he still had his hat…

He hopped up onto one of the posts of the rail, not even daring to glance back. Then he jumped.

Now he was really regretting not having found a way to fix his hat. With the wings he could have easily floated down here but now the ground was rushing towards him even faster than he expected. He couldn't regain his balance as he landed and he hit the floor, pain searing through his arm once more.

"Hey! You okay?" Kazuki asked, hurrying back over to him.

"I'm fine!" Waka snapped, getting back to his feet. His arm was still throbbing but he tried his best to ignore it. "Just keep going, get past the gate guards and out of the city."

"Okay…" Kaz muttered, racing away. The guards from the gate were heading towards them having heard the commotion, but they were carrying heavy weapons like the guards from inside the palace, and Kazuki easily dodged around them.

Now then. Waka was still slightly dazed from being slammed into the ground, but now that Kazuki had managed to get out of the palace he didn't feel obliged to escape on foot anymore. On his own there was a much easier way to get away.

One of the guards from the gate unsheathed a sword, swinging it at him. Yet it simply sliced through the air as some silver sparks fluttered to the ground.

"What the heck…!?" the guard cried. "Where did he go?"

* * *

Kazuki was glad that the city was quiet in the morning. He'd managed to escape over Gojo Bridge without being caught by the guards and now he hurried through the commoner's quarter, heading for the city gate. He lived in the city but something told him that it'd probably be best if he stayed away until all this madness had blown over…

He cast a quick glance behind him and immediately skidded to a halt. Where had Waka gone? The strange guy had told him to run when they were back at the palace… what if he'd been caught by the guards again?

_Well… I guess if he has then it's his own fault. Not my problem. Right? Right._

"Hey, aren't you the one who the guards arrested?"

Kaz practically jumped out of his skin as he turned around again to find a young girl standing in front of him. She was wearing a red and white miko costume, although she seemed rather young to be a miko… and he could swear her voice sounded familiar…

"Um…" Kazuki muttered, not really sure how to reply to that. If this girl really was a miko then she could very well be in cahoots with those mental guards. And he didn't fancy being sent back to the palace to be executed…

"Don't worry; I don't really care if you escape. You don't seem like you'd be much of a threat," the girl muttered. "As far as I'm concerned, it's only the man with the blonde hair who deserves any kind of punishment."

"Ohh, you're that kid who was walking around the prison," he realised. "Wait, why do you—"

"There he is! Get him!"

"Ah, never mind. Gotta run," Kazuki shrugged as he noticed the guards were finally starting to catch up to him. If this kid had some quarrel with Waka it wasn't really any of his business anyway. Right now he just had to get out of the city.

* * *

"What the… how did…"

Waka felt a familiar spark of amusement as Kazuki reached the top of the path outside the city, looking completely baffled.

"How the heck did you get out here!?" Kazuki cried.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that I can teleport?" Waka laughed.

"If you can teleport when why did you bother sitting around in a prison cell when you could have easily just escaped?" Kazuki tutted.

"The chain on my arm disabled it," the prophet shrugged. "Anyway, I see you managed to escape the guards."

"More or less, though if we stand here for too long they're bound to notice us eventually."

"Trés bien. Well, I must be off. I need to find someone." He turned to walk away. Where was Amaterasu likely to have gone? She wasn't here…

"Hey, wait up!"

"Hm?" he glanced around to see that Kaz was still following him.

"Can I go with you?"

"Quoi?" Waka blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Well, heading back to the city would be suicide and I don't exactly have anywhere else to go. Besides, I might be able to help you find them."

Thinking for a moment, Waka realised that with Amaterasu that probably wasn't going to be much help… and he wasn't too keen on travelling around with other people either. On the other hand, Kazuki didn't have anywhere else to go, and in Nippon's current state… maybe it would be better to have more people on their side? He let out a long sigh. Waka wished that he could see the future on impulse rather than simply waiting for a vision to come to him.

"Okay, fine. Just don't do anything stupid."

"Stupid? Me? Never," Kazuki held up his hand in honesty. "So, how do we find this person?"

_I wouldn't exactly say person…_ "I don't know if she's in Nippon now or whether she's still in Kamui, so I guess we'll just have to look around until we find her."

"That's… helpful," Kazuki muttered sarcastically.

Waka glanced around briefly. Since they were near the city right now, they might as well check the surrounding areas. Whether Amaterasu knew that he'd been captured or not he didn't know, but it had been days since they were supposed to meet at Ezofuji and she'd probably have realised something was wrong and head this way.

"We'll check North Ryoshima first," he decided, heading down the sloping path.

"Okay then. Oh, what's the name of this person we're looking for?"

"Amaterasu."

"Huh… sounds familiar. Anyway, what does she look like?"

Waka hesitated for a moment. "Well, you'll certainly know when we've found her; I'll leave it at that."

* * *

There was hardly any life at all around the northern coast. Broken machinery lay scattered on the grass and the cliff at the side was chipped away. Most notable was the massive crater in the ground. There must have been something there at one time, but whatever it was it was destroyed now.

"I don't see anyone," Kazuki stated, hopping onto one of the boulders and holding his arm up to shield his eyes from the sunlight as he scanned the area.

Ignoring the obvious statement, Waka walked over to the edge of the crater. He was getting a strange feeling about this place…

"What happened here, anyway?"

"I don't know," Waka replied simply. Hmm. There was a gap in the ground within the crater but it was too dark to see what was inside it. He hopped down onto the earth, walking over to look down into the hole. There was more ground not far below, but beyond that only total darkness. It looked like some kind of tunnel…

"You don't think she's in there, do you?" Kazuki asked, not sounding entirely hopeful.

"I doubt it," Waka muttered. "Still…" He couldn't understand what the strange feeling he was getting from this place was. Like something he should recognise but at the same time he just… couldn't. "I want to check this place out."

"Um, okay…" Kazuki shrugged. He took another glance at the dark tunnel. "You don't think there's… anything in there, do you? Y'know, like…"

"Demons?"

"Yeah."

"Possibly," Waka shrugged. "Won't know until we find out."

"Well, if you wanna go into some creepy tunnel then go ahead. You won't find me wandering around in the dark just to get eaten by demons."

Waka cast a glance back at him. Kazuki seemed defiant but every time he cast a glance at the darkness below there was a spark of fear in his eyes. Admittedly Waka wasn't overly keen on dark places either but he wasn't too worried about checking this place out.

"What's the matter?" he scorned. "Scared of the dark?"

"Wha—no! No, of course not. But if it's all the same to you then… I-I think I'll just… wait here… I mean, if the person you're looking for comes here then how are they supposed to know you're wandering in the tunnels and they might leave and—"

"Very well then, wait here," Waka rolled his eyes. "I won't be long."

And with that, he jumped down into the tunnel below.


End file.
